You and Your Local School Committee

For John, BLUF:  The people involved in public education, from teachers to School Committee Members are becoming an isolated clerisy, not subject to the will of the voters.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Florida Mom Calls for ‘Mass Exodus’ from Public Schools on Heels of Merrick Garland’s Crusade Against Anti-CRT Parents

Here is the sub-headline:

A Florida mother has called for parents to lead a “mass exodus” from public schools in the wake of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s announcement that the FBI will investigate “intimidation” and “threats of violence” at school board meetings across the country.

From Breitbart, by Reporter Nick Gilbertson, 8 October 2021.

Here is the lede plus four:

Florida Mother Quisha King spoke during the panel “Fighting Indoctrination on a National Scale” at the Family Research Council’s “Pray Vote Stand Summit” in Virginia on October 7.

“You’re at home trying to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for your kids, and the FBI could be knocking at your door because you might have said the wrong thing at a school board meeting,” King stated.

“I really think at this point the only thing to do is have a mass exodus from the public school system – that’s it,” King said.  The crowd responded to King’s suggestion with resounding applause as some audience members even stood up to cheer.

King added that a message will truly be sent when school districts lose funding once children are taken out of their schools.

To be clear, I do not favor parents doing a wholesale withdrawal of their students from public schools.  On the other hand, I fully support the right of Parents to pick the best education modality they see fit.

However, the issue isn't how you choose to educate your child.  After all, this isn't Germany.  The issue is the right of Voters (and even resident aliens) to speak before a School Committe, or a City Council.  If the Citizenry feels intimidated, then we face tyranny.  Yes, these presentations can be heated, but the presenters, if voters, have the ability to vote the rascals out.  Yes, physical threats are verboten, as is violence, but forceful argument is part of the process.  Just ask President Joseph Biden.

UPDATE:  As I went to sleep I reviewed this in my mind and decided I needed to point out that I have never thought of our Lowell School Committee as one of those closed mind clerisy types.  Mistakes?  Yes.  But, they have been an open group, by and large, and have listened to some inane questions by me and others and responded in a respectful manner.  Kudos to them.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Can't Take a Joke

For John, BLUF:  I think President Trump and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Rosenstein should appear together on the front steps of the White House, tomorrow, saying "like asking the Russians for Hillary's EMails, this was a joke."  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Rosenstein Suggested He Secretly Record Trump and Discussed 25th Amendment

From WRAL, but of an article from The Old Gray Lady, by NYT Reporters Adam Goldman and Michael S. Schmidt, 21 September 2018.

Here is the lede:

The deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, suggested last year that he secretly record President Donald Trump in the White House to expose the chaos consuming the administration, and he discussed recruiting Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office for being unfit.

First off, this has been denied by Mr Rosenstein.  Denied. The alternative story, as mentioned this evening by Ms Laura Ingrham (FOX News Source) is that it was said in jest, as a joke.

But, except to beat another news source to the headline, why would The Old Gray Lady publish this kind of thing.  The President (and a lot of Republicans) is complaining about a "Deep State", and Democrats and the Media are denying it, and here comes the Newspaper of Record talking about it.

Maybe it is part of a Democratic Party political action to further disrupt the Confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh.  This would perhaps be in line with Mr Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals.  Or perhaps something out of some old Soviet Playbook, as maskirovka.

Given that this revelation comes from former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who supposedly forwarded it to Mr Robert Mueller, perhaps that is where to look.  Was this just another part of the confusion and deception that involved the Steele Dossier and the FISA Court and mid-level DOJ Officials who felt a disturbance in the force on Election Night 2016?

I like the simple answer, which is The Old Gray Lady playing to the prejudices of its readership, the clerisy, trying to give them hope that someday 2016 will be reversed and cosmic order restored.

Hat tip to the Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff

Elites Miss the Point

For John, BLUF:  This is not a desirable outcome, but it is a logical outcome.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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In Sweden, the Elite Lost Touch with the People

From National Review, by Reporter John Fund, 9 September 2018 .

Here is how Mr John Fund winds up:

You’d think that elites would see a pattern when looking at Trump supporters, Brexiteers, or Europeans skeptical of mass migration; you’d think that the lesson would sink in by now.  But instead, in country after country roiled by populist uprisings, elites steadfastly are refusing to grapple with the legitimate sentiments of working-class voters, dissidents from politically correct identity politics, or workers unsettled by industry that has shut down.

Instead, the elites are continuing to roughly follow the example of candidate Barack Obama, who in 2012 famously tried to explain the attitudes of such people at what he thought was an off-the-record fundraiser:

They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Of course, there are elements in the ranks of Brexit supporters, Trump backers, and the Swedish Democrats that are nasty and retrograde.  But so long as elites continue to ignore the legitimate fears and grievances of ordinary voters, they will be both inhibiting a genuine public debate over solutions and encouraging even more of a backlash.

Leaders world-wide should be paying attention, but they aren't.  They are pressing on like it is Versailles in the early 1780s.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Impeach Trump Now

For John, BLUF:  When politics gets too personal it gets too dangerous.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Yes, Democrats Should Run On Impeachment

From The Huffington Post, by Opinion Writer Kaitlin Byrd, 8 June 2018.

Here is the lede plus four:

It would be dangerous, divisive and difficult for Democrats to impeach Donald Trump.  Or so says a growing consensus among the Washington political establishment.

Pundits counsel caution, hanging onto visions of bipartisan compromise.  Others invoke the hazards of 1998, when the impeachment and acquittal of then-President Bill Clinton hobbled GOP political ambitions.  And Democrats weigh the potential backlash to pursuit of impeachment against the unvented anger of their base in this year’s midterm elections.

Some argue that running on impeachment is a trap; others, that it is a threat.  What no one disputes are the merits.

Of the many arguments against impeachment, none is a moral one. Republicans not immediately within the Trump inner circle do not even assert his innocence as a defense.  Instead, they use the threat as a motivating tactic for their base, stoking their resentments and fueling partisan animosity.

Perhaps if the only costs paid by the American people were ones of hyperpartisanship and aggressive Fox News broadcasts, it would be a reasonable calculation to avoid the question of impeachment.  But there are far more terrible costs extracted by Trump’s malfeasance and Republican complicity.

No mention of "Russia", "Putin" or "Collusion" or even "Mueller".  So, for this writer there is no need for the Mueller Investigation.  Donald J Trump is a jerk and deserves to be impeached based on his actions as a human being.

I hope the Democrats run on impeachment, I hope they follow the lead of Article Author Kaitlin Byrd and Representative Maxine Waters.

The thing is, there are a lot of voters out there who will think of this as the Clerisy devaluing their vote back in November 2016.  An act of total disrespect.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff